


Clothing: Optional

by AnontheNullifier



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Asking the important questions., F/M, Is Vision Wearing Clothes?, Spoiler: He's always naked, Team revelations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 14:16:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7937812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnontheNullifier/pseuds/AnontheNullifier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Almost everyone saw the birth of Vision, but none of them really thought about how his clothing works. Does he go shopping for all those snazzy sweaters, or is he, in fact, just always naked? The team slowly figures out the truth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Clothing: Optional

**Author's Note:**

> This is a plot idea that was inspired by comments ChestnutBrumby made. Apparently the Russos have said that Vision does not actually shop for his sweaters and is, in essence, naked. This is my very first story ever, so I hope you enjoy it.

Wanda was first. 

It had been bothering her for some time. Logically, Wanda knew she could simply ask and he would happily answer; however, she had never figured out how to ask him without it sounding…indecent. 

She played with the rings on her fingers as she watched him set up their weekly movie night (though weekly was quickly turning into nightly). “Vizh,” his eyes met hers, always rapt with attention, “I am going to change into something more comfortable, you should, uh do the same?” Her confidence had lasted about halfway through the comment, all courage fading from her at the confusion on his face.

“But I am perfectly comfortable in my current state of dress.” He placed the movie down and turned fully towards her. His brow was etched with the quizzical lines she knew meant he was having a difficult time with a concept. “What would be deemed ‘more comfortable’?” 

“Sweatpants? Pajamas? Just something other than slacks and a sweater,” hands waving up and down to emphasize that, though he certainly pulled off the professor look, everyone knew dress pants could never beat sweats. “Do you own any?” She watched as he just slightly pulled his bottom lip into his mouth (a habit he told her he was trying to learn as it would make him appear more human), and a blankness to his eyes that suggested he was currently perusing a catalog of comfortable clothes. 

Then it happened. His argyle sweater and slacks slowly dissolved into a t-shirt and sweatpants. It looked so incredibly wrong on him she desperately wanted to laugh. But she had a mission. “Is this acceptable?” 

“Vizh?”

“Wanda.”

“Do you,” she felt ridiculous, “actually wear clothes?”

His brow creased again, “I am not sure I follow.”

“Are your clothes real or how does the whole,” she waved her hands again, hoping it conveyed her question because she wasn’t sure she could get the rest out, “work?”

Vision lifted his hand up lightly to explain, stopped, thought a bit, and cautiously proceeded. “Through my powers I am able to shift my density and manipulate matter in certain ways. My clothing is created through a process of rearranging my atoms to change my appearance. I realized quite quickly that clothing was a required social norm.”

“So are you…naked right now?” Now that the words were out she partially wished she could take them back but at the same time, curiosity had been gnawing away at her for far too long. The flash of fear on his face made her worry she had crossed a line. Hoping to calm him she sat on the couch and gently tugged his hand until he was sitting next to her. His silence was starting to concern her. “You don’t have to answer, I’m sorry for asking.”

Vision eventually glanced up at her, his face a mixture of fear and perhaps some guilt. “Technically, yes. Though it really brings into consideration the argument of what matters more: perception or reality. In reality, you are correct, there is nothing new on my body so in essence I am,” his lips hesitantly formed the next word, “naked. But perceptually my true body is not on display and thus I am clothed in a way to obscure such a sight, which again, I believe it is socially frowned upon to walk around naked.” 

“It is, in most places.” 

“So I would argue that humans function much more on what they perceive, as they are unable to adequately process or understand reality. Thus I believed it would not cause offense to be perceived in clothing as compared to actually wearing clothing. Is this wrong?”

Wanda gripped his hand and smiled at him. “You are perfect the way you are.” The smile he shot back melted her heart. “Want to watch the movie now?”

“I thought you wanted to change into something more comfortable?”

“No, I think I’m okay now.” She put the movie in and settled a bit closer to him, feeling an odd thrill at the notion of her leg casually touching his. “So this whole density manipulation, shifting atoms thing, could you grow another arm if you thought it would be useful?”

“Ah an interesting premise and one that I have thought about quite extensively.” Wanda never even realized how quickly she forgot about his lack of clothing.

 

Rhodey was next. 

Training that morning had been particularly brutal, Nat being in charge since Steve and Sam were gone again on a mission. Being in the military meant he’d done his fair share of difficult training, but she was diabolical. She didn’t even let him use his armor. Everyone else felt it as well and so he found himself alone in the kitchen, scavenging for food while chugging water. 

“Colonel Rhodes…” He’d later blame it on fatigue, but Rhodey jumped back from the apparition that had come from the floor, thrown his hands up to protect himself, and in the process, drenched Vision with water. “I have frightened you.”

“No shit man.” Now that his parasympathetic system was kicking in, he began to relax and take in the situation. “Vision, remember we talked about suddenly appearing through the floor?”

The man/android (mandroid, maybe? Sam would love that) froze up momentarily and then frowned at the floor. “My apologies, I was processing everything from this morning and did not put thought into how I was moving through the compound.” And now he looked like a puppy that had just been kicked and Rhodes had to shake his head. Wanda would be all over this sad face right now. 

“Listen,” he grabbed a towel and handed it to Vision, “just give me a little warning before you surprise me. Like tap the counter or something, I don’t know.” 

“I will do my best to endeavor to no longer surprise you.” 

Rhodey nodded and went to find more food, but noticed that Vision simply wiped himself down and moved to the couch. “Shouldn’t you change? Nat will not want that couch wet.”

“Oh,” Vision glanced back at him in surprise, “It is not a problem, my skin is already dry.”

And that was enough weird for one day for Rhodes, so he took the implication and locked it far, far away. 

 

Natasha picked up on it faster than Tony.

Tony (well, really Pepper and all the assistants) was throwing a gala for Stark Industries in less than a day. The Avengers were expected (i.e. required) to attend and he had employed Natasha to help make sure everyone was dressed for the occasion. Their current conundrum was Vision, who insisted he did not need to attend a tux fitting. Tony and Nat had tried bribing him with going grocery shopping afterwards (a truly tortuous task given all the options at the store and then having to eat whatever he made after), but he still fought them. 

“Robo-son, listen, just let us fit you.”

“Mr. Stark”

“Tony.”

“Tony, I am already adequately prepared for the gala so it is best to focus your efforts on the next person.”

Nat had been observing the past ten minutes of this back-and-forth and, though amusing in some ways, was getting impatient. “Vision,” she stood and approached the two men. “Can you at least show us what you are going to wear?”

The android glanced at her, with a potentially pleading look in his eye though it went away just as quickly as it came. “Fine.”

“Great,” Tony grabbed Vision’s shoulders and pushed him into a curtained off corner. “I’ll have someone grab your tux. In the closet, I’m guessing?” He motioned for the fitting assistant to go grab Vision’s clothes, but then Vision walked out of the curtain, perfectly fitting tux on his body. Nat nodded in approval, giving both men a thumbs up which brought a relieved smile to Vision’s face. “Cinnamon Roll, try the navy jacket with that. All the rage right now.” 

Vision sighed and was suddenly wearing the navy jacket. He looked himself over in the mirror. “I believe I prefer the black one.” 

“I agree, stick with black. Wanda’s wearing red, so black will match her better.” Natasha patted Vision’s shoulder and pushed him out the door before he could make any more comments. She turned towards Tony, “So, how have I never realized he doesn’t actually wear clothes?”

Tony dropped the vest he was examining, his mouth gaping. “My God, he’s naked.”

They watched Vision and Wanda dancing at the gala that night, bodies pressed close together as they moved on the floor. “Do you think she knows?”

“She has to, right?”

 

Sam had been warned. 

Rhodey and Nat always filled him in on compound gossip when he got back from a mission. As of now it was purely a salacious rumor, but Sam was a man of action and so he casually walked the compound until he found Vision outside by the lake. 

“Hey Vizh, what’s up?”

“I am simply relaxing for now; Wanda will be joining me soon.” 

Sam nodded with a friendly smile, proud that Vision didn’t tell him the sky was up. “So, I have a question to ask you.” The look of acquiescence on the android’s face meant he could go on. “Listen, there are lots of things that get talked about at the compound and I always like to know the truth behind them.”

“What are they saying about me?” 

Pride briefly swelled in Sam’s chest that Vision made the connection so quickly. “Well, some people are saying you are walking around naked. Now you look like you’re wearing clothes to me but again, I like to hear from the source.”

Vision sighed, a gesture typically only Wanda ever saw as she tended to handle any of his concerns. “I did not think Wanda would mention this to the others. But it does explain everyone’s reluctance to spar with me during training.”

“Oh, no man, Wanda has said nothing.” He noted the relief on Vision’s face. “It’s true, then?”

And so Vision went through the same explanation he had given Wanda, detailing how his atoms and density can be manipulated. He even added an example, by shifting so that he was wearing gloves and then not. Sam simply listened, a gesture that Vision appreciated more than he knew. “So can you like add things to your body?”

“Oh yes, Wanda asked me about it before and I have since been able to determine that I can in fact add functioning appendages using the same process.”

Sam clapped a hand on Vision’s shoulder, “You dog! I won’t ask more.” He laughed as he walked away, leaving a confused Vision who would then later notice the intense blush on Wanda’s cheeks when he asked her what was meant by it. 

 

Steve did not believe it. 

He’d heard the gossip, listened as Sam recounted exactly what Vision said, and still he couldn’t wrap his head around it. The man was always in sweaters and dress pants, clearly he wasn’t naked. That was that, he pushed the thoughts back and continued on with his life. Until Christmas. 

The Avengers liked to draw names out of a hat and then buy a gift for that one teammate. This year Steve had gotten Vision, and given that Vision was a known aficionada of sweaters, the decision was easy. He’d found a tastefully ugly Christmas sweater (it was a tree with tiny ornaments carefully sewn onto it) and when he gave it to Vision he insisted he try it on immediately. 

Vision, with a surprising moment of reluctance, began to pull the sweater on. “Don’t you want to take your other sweater off first?”

“Oh, I shall be fine.” Steve watched Vision struggle with getting the sweater on. He flexed his arms and glanced at himself in the mirror. “I like it, though it is quite itchy.” 

And that’s when it hit him, but he was a super soldier from World War II living in the modern day, so why couldn’t Vision be naked? “Looks good on you. Ever had eggnog?”

 

Clint was unprepared. 

The Bartons invited all of the Avengers over for New Year’s. Tony and Pepper had stopped by briefly but were already gone, Thor was somewhere with no phone and Clint never bothered to figure out the whole raven delivery system, and Bruce was still MIA. But everyone else was there and Laura and the kids enjoyed meeting the new team members. Clint had a very specific mission tonight (besides drinking, eating, and having a good time), he had been told that a certain mandroid (word courtesy of Sam) was getting quite cozy with Wanda and he felt like he had a duty to Pietro to check on such developments. 

“So Wanda,” he handed her another glass of wine and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “How’s the boyfriend?” He knew it was true when she choked on the meatball she had been eating and quickly glanced towards Vision to assess if he was paying attention. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

“Bull shit, I’ve been getting updates from Nat.” 

Wanda glanced towards Vision again and then nervously chugged her wine. “Nothing official has happened.”

“But you like him.” She nodded enthusiastically. “And he likes you.” More nods. “Well, what a perfect night to seal the deal, right?” With that he squeezed her shoulder again and walked towards Nat. On the way he passed Vision and stopped just long enough to say: “Hurt her and I will find a way to hurt you.” 

As midnight approached, everyone gathered around the television to watch the ball drop. He happily noted that Wanda was forced to sit on Vision’s lap since the couch was too crowded. “Clint! I forgot the most important gossip!” Nat stumbled up to him, a conspiratorial look on her face.

“And that would be.”

“Vision,” she waved her hand towards the android, just in case he had no clue who she was talking about, “is,” she leaned in real close and whispered, “always naked!”

The room got louder with excitement as everyone began counting down to the new year. Laura glided over to Clint, lifting his arm and placing it around her shoulders. He continued to stare at the couch where Vision was sitting. “Laura…”

“Yeah.”

“We need a new couch.”


End file.
